New Blog Site - Saunders Aircraft Canada Story

note! a new blog site has been  set up solely for Saunders Aircraft at Saunders Aircraft Canada

The response on Saunders Aircraft Canada has been wonderful so  we have decided to set  up a new blog site solely for the Saunders Aircraft Canada story. Thank-you!
Saunders Aircraft Canada

and we are still on Facebook at Saunders Aircraft Facebook Group

In the weeks, months, years to come, we'll add to the Saunders story as the information comes in!

Saunders Aircraft Mid-January 2019 Research Update

note! a new blog site has been  set up solely for Saunders Aircraft at Saunders Aircraft Canada

Saunders Aircraft Mid-January 2019 Research Update

kenkalynuk@gmail.com   https://saundersaircraft.blogspot.com/

Thank-you all for replying to my emails, my questions and phone calls on Saunders Aircraft, I hope I’m not a bother to you, I like to think of you as part of my Saunders research team.

My goal is to tell the Saunders Aircraft story, why?

We have a rc model airplane airfield adjacent to the airport at Gimli, it’s mecca for us that fly rc airplanes. We excitedly bring our RV’s, full of rc airplanes out to this model field and we stay for a weekend or longer. Playing and flying our toy airplanes and telling airplane stories around the campfire at night, it’s a magical time, I’m a kid again!

Being a native Manitoban and with a passion for aviation how could I not know about Saunders Aircraft.

I confess that I was at the Gimli airport in the summer 1975 as a Red River College summer student working the Manitoba Dept. of Public Works doing survey work on parking lots, and I’ll admit I was more interested in the Harvard aircraft parked on the north side of Hangar 1 than learning about Saunders. I continued in the civil  - geotechnical field and did not work in the aviation industry.

I’m now retired, I do occasional part time work for a geotechnical engineering company here in Winnipeg and thus I have time to do aviation research when not building rc airplanes.

In 2012 a rc model airplane club mate, Wilf, who worked at Saunders Aircraft decided to build a rc model of the ST-28, and I volunteered to do some Saunders research and roughly sketch up a draft set of plans for a ~93” wingspan model and the seed was planted for me on the Saunders story.

From 2012 to 2018, whenever I found Saunders information on the internet I would save it. When it was too windy to fly our rc airplanes at Gimli field, we would tour the Gimli airport and visit the ST-28 airframe and static test airframe. It’s sad to say that the ST-28 airframe was scrapped by the WCAM museum a couple of years ago.

Where are we now:

A blog site newly set up for only for Saunders Aircraft - https://saundersaircraft.blogspot.com/   the posts are not in chronological order, we share the information as it comes in.

A Saunders Aircraft Facebook Group page at `            https://www.facebook.com/groups/2763480640542919/?ref=bookmarks

Thank-you again for sharing your information, if you see I have used your information in-correctly, let me know and I’ll fix it and I repeat that my intention is tell a Saunders Aircraft story with no bias, no criticism, no axe to grind, just to get a good Saunders Aircraft story out on the web for future generations.

Sincerely,

Ken Kalynuk

Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

kenkalynuk@gmail.com

From Pickle Lake to Paradise book by the Habitual Lawbreaker aka Ray Fread

Thank-you Ray Fread aka the Habitual Lawbreaker.

While a few aviation folks wait to save their photographs for that perfect time to publish them, Ray Fread has take a different approach, and has posted hundreds of his aviation photographs on his Facebook page Habitual-Lawbreaker on FB for all to see and use.

Many of Ray's photos were on the internet long before his book "From Pickle Lake to Paradise" came out, so a big THANK-YOU!

Retired pilot, aircraft maintenance engineer, Ray Fread has penned an account of his many years flying and fixing planes in Northwestern Ontario and the world beyond.
From Pickle Lake to Paradise: The Life and Times of a Habitual Lawbreaker is available at Novel Ideas in downtown Dryden. Photo by Chris Marchand

Too get your copy of "From Pickle Lake to Paradise" find Ray on Facebook at Habitual-Lawbreaker on FB or email Ray at rayfread@drytel.net

In the space of four years Fread became both a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer as well as a commercial pilot. 

“I tried to write this book as I lived it, not by talking about puppies and ribbons and flowers,” said Fread. “I wrote it how it happened and with rough language at times. I wanted it to be authentic. I’ve looked up a lot of the air crashes and aviation history from around here and there’s nothing in writing. Even Transport Canada accident reports — many are just plain wrong.”

Fread’s career in aviation was far from limited to flying float planes and water bombers in the Northwest. From Canada’s arctic to the Caribbean and even the unique distinction of being the first floatplane pilot to operate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Fread credits his wife Jane for great patience and support that allowed him to chase opportunities all over the globe.

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 / Dehavilland Heron DH114 14051

note! a new blog site has been  set up solely for Saunders Aircraft at Saunders Aircraft Canada

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 / Dehavilland Heron DH114 14051

Number 13 of  Saunders ST-27 aircraft line, why start at Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013?

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 photo by Ruben Husberg

 It so happens that most of the information for ST-27  013 fell into place first. Ray Fread's (of Habitual Lawbreaker book fame  ) photos of Dehavilland  Heron 14051 G-AZSO on the apron at Gimli are priceless, his photos place Heron 14051 G-AZSO at the Saunders Aircraft factory at Gimli in around 1974.

Dehavilland Heron DH114 14051 G-AZSO at Gimli CYGM - Ray Fread photo

Dehavilland Heron DH114 14051 G-AZSO at Gimli CYGM - Ray Fread photo

 The British CAA (Civil Aircraft Authority) only issued registration marks (letters like G_AZSU)  to only one aircraft. IF that aircraft was destroyed or left the UK those registration letters were cancelled and not used again.

the UK CAA registration details from the UK CAA website

When tracing aircraft history using Canadian registration marks provides a challenge as Transport Canada re-uses the same registration marks over and over again, though in this case we do see Saunders ST-27 registered as C-GCAT.

the Transport Canada registration details for Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 C-GCAT

Therefore we believe  Saunders ST-27 serial number 013 was converted from Dehavilland DH114 Heron serial number 14051. 

In 1977, ST-27 013 later caught fire at the Dryden Airport CYHD  apron in 1977 while in service with ON AIR Limited out of Thunder Bay Ontario and it so happens Ray Fread took photos of 013 the morning after the fire, what a coincidence!!

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 C-GCAT post fire Dryden Airport CYHD - Ray Fread photo

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 C-GCAT post fire Dryden Airport CYHD - Ray Fread photo

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 C-GCAT post fire Dryden Airport CYHD - Ray Fread photo

Saunders Aircraft ST-27 013 C-GCAT post fire Dryden Airport CYHD - Ray Fread photo

Ray Fread's account on this Saunders ST-27 013 fire:

 "in 1977, I show up for work in the Dryden Airport Weather office and see this on the tarmac. This ST-27 had a failed fuel pump. The owner Fritz Meier and his engineer Marty Doyle showed up to change it. Airports closed, it's dark and cold, they are working with a little generator to run a trouble light. Fuel on the tarmac from pulling the pump. As they walk away, wearing heavy boots and parkas, one of them kicks the cord and breaks the trouble light bulb...KABOOM!!!!!! Parts of this plane landed on the runway, hundreds of feet away."

There was a court case about this aircraft being repaired after the fire damage basically spelling the end of this airframe use, we hope to post that story when we can get more info, and where this 013 airframe finally ended up at.

PS - order a copy of Ray Fread's book, "The Habitual Lawbreaker" - it's a great read!
https://thedrydenobserver.ca/2017/07/19/the-wild-northwest-fread-autobiography-a-page-turning-look-at-the-once-lawless-world-of-bush-aviation/

The Saunders Aircraft Story updates to 2019-01-11

note! a new blog site has been  set up solely for Saunders Aircraft at Saunders Aircraft Canada

The Saunders Aircraft Story updates to 2019-01-11.

This has been a great week! We have had coffee with the Chief Design Engineer for Saunders Aircraft from 1972 to 1976 and that is a full story of his moving from Los Angeles to Gimli in 1972 to be hired by Saunders Aircraft.

This blog will not tell the Saunders story in order, I am posting the information as I receive or find it so if you are looking for the Saunders Aircraft stuff, the best way is to use the search box on the right, example shown below.

I suppose I could collect the stuff, put it in order, and write a full story or book, but what if I croak when it's 1/2 done, for me it's best to post it out there on the web sooner that later.

Today Ray Fread of Dryden, ON. points me toward his photo, this is the only photo of a Dehavilland DH114 Heron serial no. 14051 G-AZSO taken at Gimli that I have found, WOW, thank-you Ray Fread.

More information on Heron 14051 G-AZSO to come soon.

Dehavilland DH114 Heron #14051 G-AZSO - photo by Ray Fread

Dehavilland DH114 Heron #14051 G-AZSO - photo by Ray Fread

Why Blog About Aviation or History or Yourself

note! a new blog site has been  set up solely for Saunders Aircraft at Saunders Aircraft Canada

Why Blog About Aviation History - I write my blogs in obscurity, no book, no movie, no money. I like any aviation story and I like to share my aviation stories and I like to share aviation stories that are told to me or that I hear from others.

I'm not an English major or minor, my writing may be poor, and if no one reads them, I'm ok with that, my goal is to get stories out there in case one day some one googles a subject, and hopefully my blogging may add a small piece of information to their search.

I was happy with that, until .........I watched this USS Indianapolis PBS documentary and then I became .............

overjoyed!

This video is about finding the sunken USS Indianapolis and in the video this story is shared....

"While reviewing the Navy’s holdings and other information related to Indianapolis, NHHC historian Richard Hulver, Ph.D., found a blog post and photo online that recounted the story of a World War II Sailor whose ship passed Indianapolis less than a day before the ship was sunk. 

This corroborated an account by Indianapolis Captain Charles McVay, III that his ship passed an unspecified LST approximately 11 hours prior to the sinking. Hulver located the Sailor’s service record from the National Personnel Records Center which identified the Sailor as a passenger on tank landing ship USS LST-779 during the period in which Indianapolis sank. That sent Hulver to the National Archives where LST-779’s deck logs confirmed the story." borrowed  from Passion About History Blog.

In the past, libraries and museums were our main sources of information, now information can be shared with a few, or hundreds, or thousands, or millions via the internet for today and for the future.

So if you are a blogger - keep blogging!

 If you do not wish to blog but have a aviation story to share  EMAIL ME and I'll post it with your name or anonymously, which ever you chose.

Everyone Has a Story to Tell

and this morning I found a blog the other Bob Hoover - what a nice read.

cheers - ken kalynuk

Documenting Saunders Aircraft Gimli - Dehavilland DH114 Heron

note! a new blog site has been  set up solely for Saunders Aircraft at Saunders Aircraft Canada

One of the hurdles we face in telling the Saunders Aircraft Gimli story is "official" documentation. On the internet, we find this photo of a DeHavilland Heron DH114 taken by Erik Frikke with a Canadian aircraft  registration C-GCRN, and the previous registration painted out.

The online Transport Canada historical registrations at Transport Canada historical aircraft registration search provide no information as the online records only go back to 1976, so I've emailed Transport Canada and hope I get some information back and we have to remember that Canadian aircraft registrations were used over and over again and thus is not a perfect method of tracking aircraft history.

We can presume that this Heron is coming to or leaving Canada and maybe there is a copy of the import / export permit or ferrying in a cardboard box somewhere in a basement corner.

These are photographer's Erik Frikke's web notes for the above photograph "ex CX-AOR, G-APKT, 9L-LAG. On its way to Canada for conversion to ST-27 standard, but was broken up instead."

How do we verify this information, I've contacted Erik Frikke and hope to hear back from him.

If we do believe that the above photograph is of G-APKT Dehavilland Heron DH114 serial number 14019 then a search of UK aircraft registrations give us the following (and UK aircraft registrations are only used once and not re-issued) that G-APKT is Heron serial number 14019.

Then the task to verify that the Heron with Canadian registration C-GCRN is actually serial # 14019 and we have a small lead to follow that in 1964 this Heron # 14019 is off to Sierra Leone, the story on Heron #14019 to be continued.................